New Mombasa roads to reduce traffic in busy city

President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday commissioned the construction of the long-awaited 11.3km Changamwe-Mariakani dual carriageway meant to ease congestion on the busy Mombasa-Nairobi highway.

Traffic at the Makupa Causeway, Changamwe roundabout, Jomvu, Miritini and Mazeras, along the highway, has been a nightmare for motorists.

Boost business, improve lives

Uhuru said the Jubilee administration is keen to open up Mombasa for increased business.

“Our aim is to improve the lives of citizens by improving the economy. We are doing the work,” he said in Changamwe.

The investment on infrastructure, especially at the port, will ensure Kenya favourably competes economically with other nations.

“With the work we have done at the port, there will be no other port between Cairo and Durban that will be like the Mombasa Port,” he said.

Youth in Mombasa have lacked jobs because of the poor infrastructure in the county.

“Once these projects are complete, investors from China and other countries will camp in Kenya to do business and provide job opportunities for our youth,” the President said.

The Sh6.1 billion dual carriageway, which will have six lanes from the Mombasa Island to Jomvu, and four lanes from Jomvu to Mariakani, will take approximately 30 months to complete, Transport CS James Macharia said.

The road handles 19,000 vehicles daily.

“This project was long overdue. It is historic. For the first time we have a superhighway coming from Mombasa Island,” Macharia said.

Interchanges will be constructed at Jomvu, Changamwe and Mikindani, the CS said.

Built many roads in Mombasa

Deputy President William Ruto said Airport-Changamwe-Mombasa Port road is 70 per cent complete.

The Jubilee government has invested at least Sh60 billion on roads in Mombasa, he said.

“No other government has invested that much on roads in Mombasa county,” Ruto said.

Next month, the government will start construction of a road that will connect Lunga Lunga with Miritini through the Dongo Kundu project, which will have two bridges, including a 1.4km bridge — the longest in East and Central Africa.

“The tender for that road will be opened next month so that we can expand Mombasa,” Ruto said.